"Life from NPR news in Washington, I'm Windsor, Johnston.
President Trump kicked off the nation's 250th birthday celebration with the speech and
“Mount Rushmore in South Dakota last night, and PR's Elena Moore reports Trump caught on Americans”
to embrace the country's founding ideals as independent-day events get underway across the nation." In his speech, Trump focused on both American exceptionalism and the midterms. He alluded to a string of recent primary winds by progressive and democratic socialist candidates running for Congress, arguing, quote-unquote, "Communism jeopardizes his vision for America."
"Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty. It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11. We're not going to let this happen to us." Trump's speech kicks off a weekend of July 4th celebrations, and the president is expected
to deliver a speech tonight on the national mall. Elena Moore and PR news. "Many parts of the Central and Eastern U.S. are still in the grips of a dangerous heat wave as the nation celebrates the 4th of July.
“Heat index values between 100 and 115 degrees are forecast from parts of the Midwest to the”
East Coast, prompting heat alerts and warnings. Ashley Ward of Duke University's Heat Policy Innovation Hub says that's because of something called the Heat Island Effect." "Places that we live in our built environment hold on to heat that's absorbed during the day.
So what happens is overnight, those things like pavement and buildings, they absorb that heat, I mean they absorb it during the day and release it slowly at night. So this is one of the reasons why we see overnight temperatures or remaining persistently high." The extreme heat is disrupting some independent day events.
It's also putting added strain on power grids. The national weather service says by Sunday in Monday the heat and humidity will settle over the southeast. It was a short week on Wall Street ahead of the long holiday weekend, and PR Scott Horsley reports stocks climbed a higher in the run-up to the 4th of July.
“Speaking of gathering essential bankers in Portugal Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman”
Kevin Wars renewed his pledge to bring inflation under control. After a downbeat jobs report on Thursday, investors are less concerned the Fed will raise interest rates when policymakers meet later this month. The report showed U.S. employers added just 57,000 jobs in June, and job gains for April and May were also revised lower.
The unemployment rate fell last month, but only because more than 700,000 people dropped out of the workforce.
For the week, the S&P 500 in next-clined 1 and 3/4 percent, the Dow rose nearly 2 percent,
and the Nasdaq jumped to 0.1 percent. Scott Horsley, and PR News, Washington. Listening to NPR News from Washington. Strong storms ripped through the Chicago area on Friday leaving widespread damage across southern Wisconsin, and like Geneva, high winds toppled trees knocked down power lines and
capsized a boat killing at least 3 people. While worth counting, under Sheriff Tom Housner says emergency crews were quickly overwhelmed. Multiple reports of 911 calls were coming in of trees down buildings being damaged, people trapped in collapsed buildings. The authorities say 7 people were rescued from the overturned boat as crews continue clearing
debris and restoring power. The National Weather Service says additional thunderstorms are possible across parts of the region through the holiday weekend. The annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest kicks off on New York's County Island today.
Steve Kestenbaum reports. What started as a sort of carnival side show now draws thousands of people to Coney Island and even bigger global TV and digital audiences, 17-time champion Joey Jaws Chestnut holds the record, 76 hot dogs and buns in just 10 minutes. "I'm very, very happy that I can give people a break from the real world for a little
bit and enjoy this crazy thing." The heat wave may impact his performance at the table and it'll be a concern as crowds line the waterfronts in New York and New Jersey for the Macy's Fourth of July Firework Show. Will Koss is Executive Producer.
This year we'll have 85,000 shells and effects firing off across a number of locations. The Brooklyn Bridge serves as a platform for some of those fireworks. For NPR News, I'm Steve Kestenbaum in New York. I'm Windsor Johnston and PR News in Washington.
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